


Gules, Azure, Sable

by merewiowing



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Revolutionary Girl Utena, Community: femslashficlets, F/F, Metaphorical Duels, Metaphorical Elevators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-09-08
Packaged: 2018-08-13 22:30:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7988476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merewiowing/pseuds/merewiowing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A hundred tables, and on each of them, a tiny figurine of a pegasus.</p>
<p>(Revolutionary Girl Utena AU, with Black Rose Duelist Severa.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gules, Azure, Sable

The elevator grinds to a halt, and Severa’s body is heavy again. She sinks back onto her chair, not remembering when she stood up. Her throat is dry; she remembers talking, crying, screaming, but she doesn’t remember _what_. She remembers that her mouth opened so wide that her lips strained, and everything fell out of her until there was no more air in her lungs and no more smoke in her head.

She examines her palms; there are small marks where her fingernails dug into her skin. One of them is bleeding. She rubs at it with her thumb until the blood is a pink smear and the sting numbs down.

With a murmur, hiss and whisper, the elevator door opens. Severa doesn’t turn around, despite the many eyes that bore into her back. She stares at the wall in front of her, and at the fluid shadow cast on it.

A voice speaks close to her ear, but Severa doesn’t listen. She doesn’t have to. She knows there is one thing left for her to do.

 

 

A hundred tables, and on each of them, a tiny figurine of a pegasus.

If it was any other time, any other place, Lucina would want to examine one of them closely. The creatures look like they were frozen mid-movement, instead of sculpted – wings stretched out, feathers ruffled by the wind, legs that were kicking a second ago. At all sides, she is surrounded by arrested notion. When she walks to the centre of the arena, the animals look at her with judgment.

Severa stands in the middle of the empty space, her feet on a red silhouette’s shoulders. She twirls her sword like it’s a weightless toy. She smiles lazily, in a way Lucina recognises, though she’s only seen it a few times.

She wants nothing more than to grab Severa’s wrist and stop the swing of the weapon. Then she would move her arm higher, to grip at Severa’s shoulder and pull her close, till their faces almost touch and Severa has to look her in the eye.

(This is the third time Lucina stands surrounded by a hundred tables on an arena splattered with red silhouettes, she couldn’t stop the first two duels but this is Severa, if anyone snaps out of this it will be Severa, if anyone looks her in the eye it will be Severa.)

The bells ring; Severa’s smile widens. She stops her sword; freezes; lunges.

 

 

She wants to curl up until she’s invisible. She wants to cry until her throat hurts with relief, like before. She wants to claw at the red stone beneath her until her fingers break.

She chokes on air. White smoke fills her head, and the last thing she feels is Lucina’s hand gripping her shoulder.

 

 

A few days have passed, and Severa acts like she always has. Whether she’s in class, or during practice, Lucina can sense the familiar angry determination inside her. It never disappears, even if they’re alone. The same furrow of her brow, the same clench of her teeth.

Lucina wants to ask her about the pegasi. She didn’t ask, before – not about the scissors, nor about the flowers. But this is Severa, if anyone would tell her it would be Severa.

She won’t ask today, she decides. Not after she has seen Severa during practice, when she removed her mask to show a wide smile. Not after she has recognised the way she twirled her foil.

Severa looks up at her, and her smile widens. It invites Lucina downstairs, for a short spar.

_Not today_ , Lucina thinks, _not today_.

**Author's Note:**

> please don't ask me who severa pulled her sword out of.
> 
> the two duelists alluded to are cynthia (scissors) and inigo (flowers, obviously). don't ask me who they pulled their swords out of, either. 
> 
> title from juri's duel song, _watashi wa banbutsu hyaku fushigi_ / _i am all the mysteries in creation_. isn't it nice how it also references awakening's plot, and the colours (gules - red, azure - blue, sable - black) also stand for severa, lucina, and black rose arc? i am nothing if not subtle with symbolism.
> 
> oh, and this was written for the sappho prompt table, which i really need to finish soon, prompt #4: _...for those // i treat well are the ones who most of all // ...harm me_.


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